| This is it, the moment of truth, will be able
to ride the ride? The briefing last night makes me think that this is going to be
difficult!! Breakfast was good with a choice of European or Chinese food. The
food was forgotten however when we heard of our fellow cyclists adventures during the
night. Two women sharing a room below us were woken by something flying around the
bedroom. It turned out to be a bat and, after much screaming and chasing, the
reception desk staff were called to assist. It's difficult enough trying to explain
yourself in China let alone try to let someone know there's a bat in your room!
After trying to draw the creature to alert the porters to the problem they were handed an aerosol spray for
insects. That means they were either crap at drawing or the Chinese
insect spray is pretty strong stuff. Needless to say they didn't get much sleep. The lesson for us was
keep the windows closed no matter how hot it was. |
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| The support truck was loaded with our luggage
and we set off soon after 9am. The first turns of the pedal sorted out
the gifted from the less gifted. Gears were crunched, people scooted
their bikes along with one foot and some even came to grief on the first
little bump outside the Hotel gates. With over 100 cyclists trying
to start this was obviously going to be interesting.
The temperature was already very hot, probably
already over 25c, and people were plastered in suntan lotion which was already
running in streaks down our necks. We were heading toward
The Great Wall at Mutianyu and the countryside is very green and lush. This is
surprising when compared with what we had seen of Beijing so far. |
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Our first sight of the wall came as we were
cycling along. We could see sections running along the tops of mountains we were
passing and the temptation was to keep stopping and take photographs.
The pace of the ride was quite fast and Adrian and I were now joined by Steve, from
Swansea, who we had not met until the ride. The road ahead suddenly started to take a bad
shape, i.e. upward. We were confronted with a mountain and this was to be the first
of many so called 'hills'. By the time we reached the car park near to the wall it
was apparent that the riders on this trip were of very mixed ability. Some were
already walking and this was concerning on the first day of cycling. The heat was,
by now, well up into the 30's and drinking was essential if you wanted to survive.
We were presented with an option, either walk up onto the Great Wall and back or
ride to the top in a cable car and walk down. Yes, you've guessed it, we opted for
the latter. What a sight we had when we reached the top. Our first real views
of the Great Wall of China. We weren't disappointed! |
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What do you think? We thought it was
awesome and wished we had far more time to stop and take it all in. This ride wasn't
going to be like that, it was time to get down and have some lunch. On the way we
had to pass the 'hawkers' who were selling all kinds of souvenirs, and were very
persuasive in their technique. Lunch was Chinese in a small restaurant below the
wall. The food was good and it was nice to sit in the shade. Temperatures had
continued to rise and by now it was close to 40c. It was here that we had our first
experience of Chinese toilets away from the relative comfort of an hotel. To say they were bad is being
polite. Apart from the fact there was little to no privacy I think
someone had forgotten to mention when they were introduced that occasional
cleaning may be advantageous.
We set off for the second part of our ride toward our hotel and a well needed rest. We
passed through many small villages where people would come running out to see us.
They were in a different time period to us with very basic amenities. Everyone
seemed so happy and waved as we went by. |
| After many miles and a steep uphill section we
eventually reached a tunnel which afforded everyone with a shady rest. Cycling was
becoming hard now as the day and mileage went by. The only good thing about going
uphill is that, hopefully, there is a corresponding downhill. This was no exception
and we soon experienced our first downhill accident. |
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| One of the riders, no names mentioned, but
it just happened to be the
same one who fell off in the car park yesterday. Remember, the one who confused left and
right. He lost control in a bend and kissed the surrounding rock. Fortunately his
injuries were not too serious, although they were not the type of injuries anyone would
want on the first day of cycling! After many more arduous miles we reached the
hotel at about 4.30pm and what a welcome sight it was. The bad thing was, no cold
beer! Eventually we convinced the barman that beer should be served cold and
he obliged. If that was an easy day I'm definitely
not getting out of bed tomorrow!! |
